Vista - A Couple Questions

To start off can someone please tell me the difference between an upgrade
Vista Version and the more expencive full one. Does the upgrade one come with
both 32 and 64 bit? or one or the other. Also, my comp has 2 gigs of ram and
I would like to know if i can buy say 512MB of RAM and add it to my computer
to make it 2.512 gigs, or do I have to buy something higher than 2 gigs and
just replace my current RAM alltogether? One more question, Is the only
reason to get Ultimate rather than Home Premium is if I need it to run like a
home bussiness? or are there other features to it? Thanks for the help.

"Keeep Out" <KeeepOut@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:3424A995-764A-41C9-B932-216AAD40B877@microsoft.com...
> To start off can someone please tell me the difference between an upgrade
> Vista Version and the more expencive full one.

You can install the full retail without having to first have installed the
OS being upgraded. The installation is WAY faster. There are often other
problems related to upgrading an existing OS compared to a clean install on
a newly formatted disk. Other than those, there is no difference. The
upgrade to a specific Vista version will have the same features, once
installed, as the full retail of the same.

>Does the upgrade one come with
> both 32 and 64 bit? or one or the other.

If you buy the upgrade off the shelf it will have 32 bit. You'll have to
request the 64 bit version by a process that, as far as I know, has not yet
been published.

>Also, my comp has 2 gigs of ram and
> I would like to know if i can buy say 512MB of RAM and add it to my
> computer
> to make it 2.512 gigs, or do I have to buy something higher than 2 gigs
> and
> just replace my current RAM alltogether?

It depends on your mother board. If you have only installed RAM into one
pair of sockets, you can add RAM to the other pair. Typically, both sticks
in a specific set must be the same size, and even more reliably, the same
exact model of RAM.

The manual for your motherboard, or your computer manufacturer will be the
best final answer but most modern computers can be configured for 2.5 gigs
if you have, for instance, two 1 GB sticks in one pair and then two 256 MB
in the other pair. You could do two 1 GB in one pair and then one 512MB in
one slot of the other pair but this would not perform as well as a pair of
256MB.

>One more question, Is the only
> reason to get Ultimate rather than Home Premium is if I need it to run
> like a
> home bussiness? or are there other features to it? Thanks for the help.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvist...s/default.mspx

You'll have to decide if you need the extra features in Ultimate.

HTH,

Dale

Upgrade means you have to have another operating system such as XP installed
on your PC to upgrade over. Without another operating system the upgrade
does not work.

A full version allows you to install Vista on a PC that doesn't contain any
operating system at all. Personally I prefer a full version to an upgrade.

Adding memory is dependent upon whether a) your pc will support more RAM and
b) whether you have an empty memory slot available. If you have these then
yes you can increase your memory by another 512MB to make 2.5GB of RAM.
However, if all of your memory slots are occupied then you have to remove
one to add any memory increase. As you already have 2GB i assume you have
two memory slots each with a 1GB memory stick in. In this instance it would
be pointless updating the memory with 512MB because you would have to remove
a 1GB stick and you would end up with only 1.5GB of RAM.

You don't have to run a business to install Ultimate. Ultimate simply has
more features than Premium - Windows Media Center for one, fax and scan
facility for another. Those are just two features I don't have the product
guide in front of me to give you others.


--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

"Keeep Out" <KeeepOut@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:3424A995-764A-41C9-B932-216AAD40B877@microsoft.com...
> To start off can someone please tell me the difference between an upgrade
> Vista Version and the more expencive full one. Does the upgrade one come
> with
> both 32 and 64 bit? or one or the other. Also, my comp has 2 gigs of ram
> and
> I would like to know if i can buy say 512MB of RAM and add it to my
> computer
> to make it 2.512 gigs, or do I have to buy something higher than 2 gigs
> and
> just replace my current RAM alltogether? One more question, Is the only
> reason to get Ultimate rather than Home Premium is if I need it to run
> like a
> home bussiness? or are there other features to it? Thanks for the help.

Ultimate (both full and upgrade) include both the 64-bit and the 32-bit disks


"Dale" <nospam@nospam.ever> wrote in message news:%23uuTcLyQHHA.3440@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
|
| "Keeep Out" <KeeepOut@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
| news:3424A995-764A-41C9-B932-216AAD40B877@microsoft.com...
| > To start off can someone please tell me the difference between an upgrade
| > Vista Version and the more expencive full one.
|
| You can install the full retail without having to first have installed the
| OS being upgraded. The installation is WAY faster. There are often other
| problems related to upgrading an existing OS compared to a clean install on
| a newly formatted disk. Other than those, there is no difference. The
| upgrade to a specific Vista version will have the same features, once
| installed, as the full retail of the same.
|
| >Does the upgrade one come with
| > both 32 and 64 bit? or one or the other.
|
| If you buy the upgrade off the shelf it will have 32 bit. You'll have to
| request the 64 bit version by a process that, as far as I know, has not yet
| been published.
|
| >Also, my comp has 2 gigs of ram and
| > I would like to know if i can buy say 512MB of RAM and add it to my
| > computer
| > to make it 2.512 gigs, or do I have to buy something higher than 2 gigs
| > and
| > just replace my current RAM alltogether?
|
| It depends on your mother board. If you have only installed RAM into one
| pair of sockets, you can add RAM to the other pair. Typically, both sticks
| in a specific set must be the same size, and even more reliably, the same
| exact model of RAM.
|
| The manual for your motherboard, or your computer manufacturer will be the
| best final answer but most modern computers can be configured for 2.5 gigs
| if you have, for instance, two 1 GB sticks in one pair and then two 256 MB
| in the other pair. You could do two 1 GB in one pair and then one 512MB in
| one slot of the other pair but this would not perform as well as a pair of
| 256MB.
|
| >One more question, Is the only
| > reason to get Ultimate rather than Home Premium is if I need it to run
| > like a
| > home bussiness? or are there other features to it? Thanks for the help.
|
| http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvist...s/default.mspx
|
| You'll have to decide if you need the extra features in Ultimate.
|
| HTH,
|
| Dale
|

Upgrade - you exchange the license you have for XP or Win2K for a reduced
price for Vista. They install differently.
You probably have 4 memory slots on your motherboard. Most modern mobos
work best with matched pairs of memory and can work as dual channel. No one
can answer your question as we have no idea what your 2gigs is made up of.
2 x 1gig or 5 x 512, etc.
Check the Microsoft getting started Vista site for information on the
differences in Home Premium or Ultimate. Most home users probably won't
care about not having BitLocker or additional networking, like joining a
domain.

"Keeep Out" <KeeepOut@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:3424A995-764A-41C9-B932-216AAD40B877@microsoft.com...
> To start off can someone please tell me the difference between an upgrade
> Vista Version and the more expencive full one. Does the upgrade one come
> with
> both 32 and 64 bit? or one or the other. Also, my comp has 2 gigs of ram
> and
> I would like to know if i can buy say 512MB of RAM and add it to my
> computer
> to make it 2.512 gigs, or do I have to buy something higher than 2 gigs
> and
> just replace my current RAM alltogether? One more question, Is the only
> reason to get Ultimate rather than Home Premium is if I need it to run
> like a
> home bussiness? or are there other features to it? Thanks for the help.